Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center

Biography

Geologist with the USGS in Menlo Park from 1975 to 2014; continuing with geologic studies as Geologist Emerita. My research has focused on the regional geology and tectonics of east-central Alaska and the northern Cordillera; trace-element tectonic fingerprinting of (meta)igneous rocks; syngenetic hydrothermal mineralization (VMS and Sedex deposits); geologic setting of mineral prospects in east-central Alaska; and distribution and petrology of metamorphic rocks in Alaska. In 1977, during my third field season of mapping in the Big Delta quadrangle of east-central Alaska, I was mauled by a black bear and lost both arms as a result of my injuries. Fortunately, my disability has not kept me from continuing with fieldwork in Alaska and publishing the results.

Research focus

Geologic and tectonic history of east-central Alaska utilizing geologic mapping, metamorphic petrology, whole-rock geochemistry and trace-element tectonic fingerprinting of (meta)igneous rocks, and U-Pb zircon, 40Ar-39Ar, and apatite fission track data generated by collaborating scientists. Correlation of regional events in east-central Alaska with those in the northern Canadian Cordillera. General interest in submarine, syngenetic hydrothermal mineral deposits hosted in volcanic and sedimentary rocks (VMS and Sedex deposits) and specific interest in the Bonnifield and Delta VMS deposits of the Alaska Range. Petrography of igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Professional SocietiesFellow, Geological Society of America, Geological Association of Canada; Member, Mineralogical Society of America, American Geophysical Union, Society of Economic Geologists, Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits, B.C. and Yukon Chamber of Mines, American Association for the Advancement of Science's Resource Group for Science and the Handicapped

Honors and Awards

Chosen for Univ. of California's Education Abroad program to Univ. of Madrid, Spain (1967-1968); Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee (1 of 10) for 1981; Invited speaker for Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Adventurous Women lecture series, 1995; Sonoma State University Distinguished Alumni Award (1999; spent 1972-74 in undergraduate Geology Program at Sonoma State University); US Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award, 2011.

Committees and Editorial Boards

Committee of Visitors (COV) for the Deep Earth Processes Section of the National Science Foundation (2005); Geological Society of America, Cordilleran Section, Abstract Review Board (1981-84) and Nominations Committee (1997); Associate Editor, Geological Society of America Bulletin (1993-99); Co-Editor of Geologic Studies in Alaska by the US Geological Survey (1991, 1992; USGS Bulletins) and Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska (2010 and 2011; USGS Professional Papers).

Dusel-Bacon, C., Day, W.C., and Aleinikoff, J.N., 2013, Geochemistry, petrography, and zircon U-Pb geochronology of Paleozoic metaigneous rocks in the Mount Veta area of east-central Alaska: Implications for the evolution of the westernmost part of the Yukon-Tanana terrane: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 50, no. 8, p.826–846. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjes-2013-0004

Mortensen, J.K., Dusel-Bacon, C., Hunt, J., and Gabites, J., 2006, Lead isotopic constraints on the metallogeny of middle and late Paleozoic syngenetic base metal occurrences in the Yukon-Tanana and Slide Mountain/Seventymile Terranes and adjacent portions of the North American miogeocline, in Colpron, M., and Nelson, J.L., eds., Paleozoic Evolution and Metallogeny of Pericratonic Terranes at the Ancient Pacific Margin of North America, Canadian and Alaskan Cordillera: Geological Association of Canada, Special Paper 45, p. 261-280.

Dusel-Bacon, C., and Harris, A.G., 2003, New occurrences of late Paleozoic and Triassic fossils from the Seventymile and Yukon-Tanana terranes, east-central Alaska, with comments on previously published occurrences in the same area, in Galloway, J.P., ed., Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey during 2001: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1678, p. 5-30.

Dusel-Bacon, C., Wooden, J.L., and, Layer, P.W., 2003, A Cretaceous SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age for the West Point orthogneiss: Evidence for another gneiss dome in the Yukon-Tanana Upland, in Galloway, J.P., ed., Studies in Alaska by the U.S. Geological Survey during 2001: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1678, p. 41-60.

Dusel-Bacon, C., 1983, Trace element evidence for the tectonic affinities of some amphibolites from the Yukon-Tanana Upland, in Coonrad, W.L., and Elliott, R.L., eds., The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1981: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 868, p. 50-54.

We report eight new U-Pb detrital zircon ages for quartzose metasedimentary rocks from four lithotectonic units of parautochthonous North America in east-central Alaska: the Healy schist, Keevy Peak Formation, and Sheep Creek Member of the Totatlanika Schist in the northern Alaska Range, and the Butte assemblage in the northwestern Yukon-Tanana...

The origin and antiquity of the subdued topography of the Yukon–Tanana Upland (YTU), the physiographic province between the Denali and Tintina faults, are unresolved questions in the geologic history of interior Alaska and adjacent Yukon. We present apatite fission-track (AFT) results for 33 samples from the 2300 km2 western Fortymile...

The Mesozoic magmatic history of the North American margin records the evolution from a more segmented assemblage of parautochthonous and allochthonous terranes to the more cohesive northern Cordilleran orogenic belt. We characterize the setting of magmatism, tectonism, and epigenetic mineralization in the western Fortymile mining district, east-...

This map was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Resources Program to depict the fundamental geologic features for the western part of the Fortymile mining district of east-central Alaska, and to delineate the location of known bedrock mineral prospects and their relationship to rock types and structural features.
This geospatial...

We report the results of new mapping, whole-rock major, minor, and trace-element geochemistry, and petrography for metaigneous rocks from the Mount Veta area in the westernmost part of the allochthonous Yukon–Tanana terrane (YTT) in east-central Alaska. These rocks include tonalitic mylonite gneiss and mafic metaigneous rocks from the Chicken...

Geochemistry, petrography, and zircon U-Pb geochronology of Paleozoic metaigneous rocks in the Mount Veta area of east-central Alaska: implications for the evolution of the westernmost part of the Yukon-Tanana terrane; 2013; Article; Journal; Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences; Dusel-Bacon, Cynthia; Day, Warren C.; Aleinikoff, John N.

Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au deposits of the Bonnifield mining district formed during Late Devonian-Early Mississippian magmatism along the western edge of Laurentia. The largest deposits, Dry Creek and WTF, have a combined resource of 5.7 million tonnes at 10% Zn, 4% Pb, 0.3% Cu, 300 grams per tonne (g/t) Ag, and 1.6 g/t Au....

The collection of papers that follow continues the series of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) investigative reports in Alaska under the broad umbrella of the geologic sciences. This series represents new and sometimes-preliminary findings that are of interest to Earth scientists in academia, government, and industry; to land and resource managers;...

Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, also known as volcanic-hosted massive sulfide, volcanic-associated massive sulfide, or seafloor massive sulfide deposits, are important sources of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver (Cu, Zn, Pb, Au, and Ag). These deposits form at or near the seafloor where circulating hydrothermal fluids driven by magmatic...

The collection of papers that follows continues the series of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) investigative reports in Alaska under the broad umbrella of the geologic sciences. This series represents new and sometimes-preliminary findings that are of interest to Earth scientists in academia, government, and industry; to land and resource managers;...

This Open-File Report presents geochemical data for outcrop and drill-core samples from volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits and associated metaigneous and metasedimentary rocks in the Wood River area of the Bonnifield mining district, northern Alaska Range, east-central Alaska. The data consist of major- and trace-element whole-rock geochemical...

Volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits are very significant current and historical resources of Cu-Pb-Zn-Au-Ag, are active exploration targets in several areas of the United States and potentially have significant environmental effects. This new USGS VMS deposit model provides a comprehensive review of deposit occurrence and ore genesis, and...